Confessions of a Race Day Wipe Out

(A sequel to Confessions or a race day looser)  

 I started out with a long drive to participate in a Wiener dog racing event to help a local, animal rescue organization raise money.

 Now I love these events, because I love to race! My favorite site is the starting box! I just want to get in so the race can start.

 This event though, started out with a meet and greet.  My race wasn’t scheduled to run until late in the day.  I tried my best to stay calm and greet all the admirers and children. They wanted to meet me because I was the one featured on most of the posters. You see I love posing for the camera. Not that there are not other dachshunds that are good at photos. But they are not usually good at taking directions for photos and racing.

 Well I digress, down to the races. I needed to win my heat to be able to have a shot at the big race. This was a particularly hard race, not only was it run in soft dirt, it was over 50 yards long. A lot longer that my little dachshund eyes can see.  We got on the field and we had to walk to the starting gate. I barked and whined to the crowd to get them excited. Then the moment came I had been waiting for. I was loaded into slot 1. I barked and whined waiting with excitement and anticipation for the race shoot door to open. When it finally opened I darted into the lead and held that position in the race. I spotted the big hotdog at the end of the race and headed that way. As I was nearing the finish line I slowed to look for my mom. “Oh!  There she was!”  I kicked on the extra speed and easily took first. I was so fast in fact, that I made the second fastest time on the course, thus earning me the second place odds to win the next race.  Since that was the last race before the final, I only had a short time to get a quick drink and make a run to the bathroom.

Well! I got back just in time to fall in place for the walk to the box. The crowd was cheering and going wild. the stands were filled to capacity and I barked loudly to let them know I would try my hardest.

On this race I was set to run out of the tenth place slot. There was a lot of confusion with the gate keeper and someone else standing there. It was so tight my dad could barely squeeze me into the box. I did not get a good look at where my mom went. But I figured I would just run fast and hope to see her at the end like last time. The box opened after what seemed like an eternity.  I got a good start and rocketed into the lead. But I was not sure where to go. All I could see from my angle was the big hot dog, so I headed for that.  Unfortunately, I was in slot 10, not slot one this time and it kind of took me at a slight angle. This would not have been too much of an issue; except for one thing.  I was so…. zoned in on running fast I did not see any thing around me. My friend Presley, who is a fast dog herself, barked at me to stay out of her way. I was ahead of her but her bark caught me by surprise and I whipped my head around to look at her, but at that angle and speed this action caused me to trip and roll! I can’t tell you how many times I rolled. Some say twice, others say three times. I was lucky, because Presley had done her best to jump over me when I rolled. It looked like a NASCAR pile up. ALL THAT WAS MISSING WAS THE FLAMES!
 
I finally landed on my feet, but by that time I had fallen to the back of the pack.  I ran as hard as I could but only managed to come in 8th, but the damage had been done. Not only had I blown my chance at winning it all. But I took the second place dog with me. IT WAS A SAD DAY FOR RACING!
 


Oh well, there is always next time.

See you then, hopefully with better news.

Full Video of Both the tenth race and final race at Los Alamitos Race Track.